Impulse-sending device



Jan. 2 19 -5 27 H.`F. OBERGFELL IMPULSE SENDING DEVICE Filed Dec. 10,1923 Patented Jan. 25, 1927.

UNITED STATES urATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. OBERGEELL, E RIVER EoREsT, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoR, EY MEsNEASSIGN- MENTS, To AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC INC., or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ACoRroRATIon' 0l' DELAWARE.

IMPULSE-SENDING DEVICE.

Application tiled December 10, 1923. Serial No. 679,517.

My invention relates in general to impulse Agovernor are driven from thedial by means.v

of appropriate gear transmission. In these devices, and particularlywhen, as in the present instance, they are constructed in the form of acalling device for4 automatic telephone systems, many efforts have beenmade and various means devised to' prevent sticking and reduce bindingand abrasion between gears.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improvedmechanism for accomplishing the above results. I have discovered that bythe use of a laminated worm gear consisting of a blank or layer of blackbre, or other suitable oil holding material, held between two phosphorbronze. vflanges or disks, I am able to practically entirely eliminatesticking and to reduce binding and abrasion to nilfor all practicalpurposes.

Other new and improved4 features in the governor mechanism include a newand improved type spring in which the material -used in fastening it 'tothe worm shaft is new and improved, thus eliminating the previously usedaluminum hub and practicallyeliminating breakage; a new and improvedtype of governor fly-ball in which a piece of a grayber rod, or othersuitable bearing material, is rounded off and inserted in the iy-ballsto 'serve a's a friction shoe and thus reduce abrasion between thefly-balls and governor cup; and a new and improved Atypebearing in whichthe material is hardened steel and the design yused to hold the parts inplace is new and improved. This type bearing overcomes the objection tothe-'previously used' jeweled bearings, 1. e.,

are generated by the actionl of an interused is phosphor bronze, and thedesign.

of not having a convenient method of deter-f play or pulling outdistance -of the dial, and

holding the new shunt spring controlling lever, so as to give astrongerand more reliable mechanism and one more easily adjusted,assembled and put into operating position.

Still another feature is the newy and improved means of attaching atelephone number and letter designation, or instruction card, to thedial, so as to economically make changes when necessary.

Certain of the foregoing features disclosed in this case are beingclaimed in the copendin'g divisional application-Serial No. 53,039,filed August 28, 1925. f The above important features of the inventionand other details will nowl be more4 fully described in the'specitcationwhich is lto follow, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, inwhich Fig. 1 is a front view ofthe device; Fig. 2. is a side view of thesame, looking in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, with one of themounting The impulse sending device illustrated comprises the usualfinger hold dial 2 (as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) pivoted'at a centrafpoint in the base plate 3 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) by means of a rod andhaving a coil main spring 4, one end of which is fastened to' the rod orpin 5` to which lthe finger hold dial is fastened and which acts as apivot for ysaid dial, .and the other end of which is y fastened to alug6 on the under side of the base plate'.. The spring 4 acts'ptoreturnthe linger hold dial 2 to its normal position after the spring has beenwound up by the rotation of the dial in a clockwise direc-W tion. A gearwheel is mountedloosely upon thepivot rod 5 between the dial and theplate 3, as shown, for example, in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,461,944 toSetter, dated July 17, 1923,4 which wheel has gear teeth around itscircumference and also has ratchet teeth cut in its face lying adjacentto the dial 2. These ratchet teeth are spaced apart the same angulardistance as the holes in the linger dial. Through an o ening in the dial2 1s placed a small metal og which cooperates withthe ratchet teeth onthe gear v wheel to rotate the latter with the finger hold dial in itsreturn or counter-clockwise motion only until the dial reaches normal.

g Figs. 2 and 3, having two wings adapted,

when the shaft is rotated, to open and close contact of a pair ofsprings 11 and 12, which are usually used to send impulses over the wellknown two wires of a telephone system to control automatic switches. Theworm wheel 9, as best shown in Fig. 7, consists of a blank or sheet ofblack fibre held between two sheet phosphor bronze flanges, all of whichare punched out and driven on a shoulder of the pinion. shaft. Theshoulder has a flat surface cut on it to keep the wheel from turning andis tapered so that the wheel becomes held more secure as it is drivenon. The projecting shoulder is then staked to hold the wheel inposition. Teeth are then cut on the bias to mesh with the governor worm13, as best shown in Fig. 3, which drives'the governor in the usual wellknown manner.

The governor consists of the hardened steel worm shaft 13, as best shownin Fig. 5,' which shaft is knurle'd to cause a tight iit of the roundbrass hub'20. The shaft is also attened at its ends and polished to bearagainst the hardened and polished chrome steel ball bearings 21 and 22.The ball bearing 21 receives very little wear and hence is merely driventightly in place, while ball bearin 22 receives a thrust when the wormshaft ls'rotated and is therefore arranged as follows: In the screw endof the governor cup 23 is a hardened steel polished concave race 24,which is held stationary. The ball bearing 22 is smaller than thebore ofthe screw end of the governor cup and, is held loosely in place by theround brassr bushing 25 which is held stationary and has its bearing endslightly bent into a diameter less than that of the steel ball.'v Thehub 20 has a collar` at one end. over which the phosphor bronze spilling26 is tightly fitted by forming a cup.

e spring is'further held by prong staking or rivetino' the collar vofthe hub which extends sliglitlybeyond it,"while the hub is furthertightened to the shaft by ring staking the end opposite the collar. Tothe ends of the governor spring 26 are riveted round brass governorfly-balls 27 and 28. These fly-balls are drilled out and in them areinserted conicalishaped fibre friction shoes 29 and 30 which have theirtops out oil and rounded, and are held securely in place by vringshoulder staking.

Three springs, 14, l5 and 16, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.', are providedand are what is known as the shunt springs; that is, these springs areallowed to close by bushing 17 as soon as the calling device leaves itsnormal position and are used to shunt the talking equipment at asubscribersl station in the usual well known manner. The bushing 17 isheld on the end of the hard sheet brass shunt spring lever 108, as shownin Figs. 2, 3 and 6, by nicking the latter. The lever 18 (Fig. 6), iitsover the collar on the top end of the hub 19, after the end of the mainspring 4 has been placed in the groove which extends slightly below saidcollar, its inner projectionsitting in said groove thus holding the mainspring in place and keeping the hub from turning with respect to it. Thetop of the collar is then curled over or riveted to hold the leversecurely in place.

The hub 19 is of sufficient length to almost touch against thestationary hub (not shown) of the base plate 3, which holds the rod orpin 5, and thus limit the distance the dial 2 can be pulled out with thespring in place. The bottom end of the hub is tapered Iso as toaccommodate the decreasing dia' meter at the middle of the coil spring 4as it is wound up or tensioned.

A dial instruction card 38, as best shown in Fig. 1, is mounted on theface of the dial 2 as follows: The dial escutcheon plate or badapter 31,as shown in Fig. 4, is made from soft sheet brass, or other suitablematerial, and has its edge turned over so as to rest securely on theface of the dial. It has a lowered bearing surface 32 and a loweredscrew hole 33, vthe surface leading down to the latter being shaped toaccommodate the head 'of the screw 37, which screw fastens the plate tothe dial. The plate further has a projection 34 which fits into the hole50 of the dial and holds it from turning, and cut out portions 35 and 36to function with the dial escutcheon or cover ring 41 as will beexplained later. The dial instruction card 38, made of white indexbristol, or other suitable material, 4lies on top of the escutcheon'plate 31 and has a projection 39 to function with the cover ring 41 aswill also be explained later. The transparent Celluloid cover 40 lies ontopl of the instruction card 38 and both are covered and held in placeby the ring 41. The ring-4,1 is made from BOP llti

. normal wheel or other suitable material, and has its edge turned overto lit the escutcheon plate 31, the slight projections 42 and 43 beingbent in to snap into 'place and mesh with the cut out portions 35 and36, respectively, of the late 31. ,The cut out portion 44 accommoc atesthe projection 39 of the card 38 and keeps the card from turning aswellA as positions it with respect to the dial.4

The operation of the device is as follows: In the well known manner theuser of the device places his finger in the hole, through which can beseen the desired digit, of the finger hold dial 2, and pulls the dialaround in a clock-wise direction until the finger has encountered thestop 51, shown 1n Figs. 1, 2 and 3,'at which time the finger iswithdrawn. As previously pointed out, the associated gears do not moveduring this tension is storedv in the main and the shunt springs4 areclosed by the movement of lever-18. lVhen the linger is withdrawn thespring 4 exerts a force upon the dial 2 and rotates same back toward itsposition, causing the associated gea-r (not shown) and pinion 7 torotate with it. The shaft of pinion 7 thereby rosoft sheet brass,

tates the cam 10 to cause thesprings l1 and 12 to be separatedmomentarily a ndniber of times corresponding to the number of the lingerhole intowhlch the users finger was inserted, and rotates the laminatedWorm wheel 9 to cause the governor to regulate the speed of rotation ofthe parts in returning to normal.. wheel 9 is rotated it gives arotating thrust to the' worm shaft 13 due to its biased teeth. Thisrotating thrust causes the-chrome steel ball V22 to be pressed againstthe steel concave race 24 and become automatically centered, thusproviding an eliicient bearing that wears uniformly due to beingsuccessively centered on different axes.

Having described my invention, what I consider to be new and desire tohave protectedfby Letters Patent will be pointed out in the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. In an impulse sending device, a main coil spring, a hub having acollar with a slot extending through and below said co1- lar for holdingone end vof said spring when placed inside, a lever vhaving a flat ringat one end with projections on the inside of said ring vfor engaging theslot in said hub and fastened on the collar of, said hub :for holding,said spring. in place.

2. In an impulsesending device, a dial having a perpendicular rod atitscenter, a base plate havimy a perpendicular hub at its center throughwhich said rod extends and in which the same rotates, a coil spring,

operation, but coil spring 4.

.secured to said hub to hold one lWhen the laminated wormV a coil springhub fastened to said s'prin at the end of said rod, said coil spring ubfunctioning with said base plate hub to limit the play between said dialand said base plate, and said` hub being tapered to accommodate theldecrease in diameter of said spring upon being tensioned.

' 3. In an impulse sendingl device, a Acoil spring, a coil spring hub, alever having an insulating bushing fastened on one end, said hub andlever fastened together to hold one end of said spring-,a dial having aperpendicular rod at its center with a notch cut in thev end to receiveand hold the end of said spring, a set of shunt springs, said bushingactin to hold open said shunt springs when said ial is in normalposition and allowing said shunt springs to close when said dial is offnormal. 1

4. In an impulse sending device, a bracket, a power spring, means forsecuring one end of said' spring to said bracket in fixed relation tothe device, circuit controlling springs, an arm for operating saidSprings when the evice is moved oli' normal, a' shaft with which saidarm rotates, means for permanently' fixing. the free end of said powerspring to sald arm, said means cooperating with a slot in said shaftforremovably lfixing said spring and arm in fixed relation to said shaft.

5. In an impulse transmitting device, a power spring, a hubfor saidspring, an arm end of said power spring attached thereto, circuitcontrolling sprinGs and means on. said arm for operating saidsprings'under control of said power spring.l v

' In an impulse transmitting\device, a spring, a lever having aninsulating bushing fixed on one end thereof, a hub in fixed relation tosaid lever and spring, a 1in er hold dial having a shaft atits center,said shaft vhaving a` free end notched to receive the end of the springsecured to the hub; contact springs, said bushing forv operating saidsprin as the dial is operated-from or restore .to normal. l

` 7. In an impulse sending device, a stationary member containing abearin a movable member containing a shaft whlchfits into said bearing,a power spring assembly com prising a hub to which ahelical spring 1sattached and retained by means of a lever, said -assembly fitting oversaid shaft and bearing, and means formed in said shaft cooperating withsaid spring and hub to retainsaidspring in its position over said shaftand to retain said shaft in said bearing.

In witnesswhereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 5th day ofDecember, A. D., 1923.y f

HERBERT noBEBGFELnf

